Living on the Edge
by tiny-shining-star
Summary: Despite everyone believing otherwise, Xelha's not that innocent.


Fan Fan Girl and I have laughed many times about Xelha's remark in battle that she is not that innocent, because we both feel that she is. So, I have decided to show that she is not as innocent as we all seem to think she is. Hope you all enjoy.

Hugs and Kisses

Star (aka Tiny)

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"I'm not that innocent," Xelha exclaimed as she delivered a finishing move to her opponent. The beast she had been fighting fell to the floor and vanished. After twirling in the air for a moment, Xelha than put her wings away and headed back to her group.

"Xelha, I have a question for you," Kalas said after she had made her way over to her friends.

"What is it, Kalas?" She briefly wondered what it was he could want.

"You always tell the monsters that you're not that innocent, but you have to be one of the nicest, most innocent people that I've ever met. Why do you say you aren't that innocent when you so obviously are?"

"What do mean? I not innocent. I've done many bad things in my life." Xelha started to get frustrated by the dubious looks Kalas and the rest of their friends were giving her. "I _have_ done bad things!"

"What have you done that was so bad?" Savyna asked her in that disgustingly calm and collected voice.

Xelha turned and addressed her: "Well, when we were climbing the Celestial tree the other day, I ate a kabob and, instead of waiting to throw the stick in the garbage, I just threw it on the ground." Xelha lowered her head as if she was ashamed of her actions. "I felt so bad for it afterwards."

"That's nothing," Kalas snorted.

"What are you talking about? …nothing… I _littered_," Xelha shrieked back.

"Xelha." Gibari chuckled, "The stick was biodegradable. You just threw a piece of wood on wood. I don't think that that's going to hurt the tree any. In fact, you might have just helped to fertilize it--once the wood starts to rot, of course."

"Well, okay, but that's not the only bad thing I've done." Xelha was beginning to feel a bit flustered.

"What else have you done, if you don't mind my asking?" Lyude questioned gently.

"When I was kidnapped by the empire at Moonguile Forest, before Kalas had come to save me, I was thinking all kinds of bad things about my captors."

Savyna glanced at Gibari who was smiling broadly, then asked, "What kind of bad things were you thinking?"

"I thought that they were not nice people, to go picking on a helpless girl like me, and I wished that I was free so I could kick their butts," the magic user said in a rush.

"Was that all?" Kalas asked mockingly.

"No, it wasn't. I also thought that they were mean and stupid and weak for only picking on a girl who was all bound up. They were all buttheads," Xelha replied cuttingly.

"Did you say any of this to their faces?" Savyna inquired.

"What?" Xelha looked slightly confused at what was being asked.

"Did you tell them that you thought they were mean and weak?"

"Ah, no, I didn't," the blonde answered in a shocked voice.

"So even though you were thinking these things, you didn't actually say anything mean to your kidnappers?" Lyude questioned.

"No, why would I say bad things to them?" Xelha said quietly.

"It's okay, girly, you're just not the type of person who tries to hurt other people's feelings, even if they've been bad to you. You're just a nice person." The fisherman consolingly patted the dejected girl on the shoulder.

"I'm not as innocent as you all seem to think I am. I've done more." She brushed aside Gibari's hand and put her hands on her hips.

"Go on, Xelha. Tell us what's so bad that it makes you less than innocent." Kalas was starting to like this. He always knew that she was innocent, but he never thought that she would think throwing a wooden stick on the ground would be littering. Plus, she just called someone a butthead.

It was great.

"I'd stolen that pendent from the emperor. Stealing is wrong, I'll have you know," Xelha explained haughtily. There was no way they could say that was an innocent act. She had been raised to believe that theft was bad, and by stealing she in turn had done a bad thing.

"But, Xelha," Lyude said, "didn't you steal that in order stop the empire's evil plans, as well as to warn the other islands what Geldoblame was doing? Your reason for stealing it was not an act of selfishness, but rather an act of self-sacrifice. You put yourself at risk of punishment in order to do what would be best for our world. I don't think that it counts as being bad when you are only trying to do what's right."

Xelha glared at Lyude, but quickly turned that glare to Kalas and the rest of the group, who were all trying to hold in laughter at Lyude's quick-thinking remark. Even Savyna had a small upturned grin on her face.

"He's got you there Xelha!" Kalas laughed.

"But… but… there's more that I've done. I was just saving the bigger stuff 'till later."

"All right, then, let's hear what else you've done that was so bad," Gibari said with a large grin on his face.

"I've killed before."

Kalas looked at her doubtfully. "You _killed _someone?"

"Of course! I mean, I fight beside you all the time and we kill monsters constantly. Therefore, I've killed many times in our travels," she explained like it was most obvious thing in the world.

Kalas and Gibari started to laugh. Savyna and Lyude chuckled quietly to themselves

"That doesn't count," Kalas said between laughter. "If we didn't get rid of the monsters, they would kill us. Also, if we don't keep the monster population down, they could attack innocent travelers and maybe even invade the towns. Killing them is best for everyone."

Xelha stomped her foot in agitation.

"I'm not always a nice person, and I can prove it!" she shouted at them, beginning to get angry that they were just brushing off all the bad things she had done like they were nothing.

"Go… go ahead," Kalas said, trying to control his laughter. "What will prove to us that you aren't nice?"

"At night, after you all go to bed, I do something that none of you would consider to be innocent," Xelha remarked confidently. She was sure that after she told them this next thing, they would never think that she was innocent again.

Everyone suddenly became quiet and still as they regarded Xelha with curious eyes. What could she possibly do at night that an innocent girl would not do?

Gulping, Kalas bravely questioned, "What do you do at night when we're all sleeping?"

Xelha glanced down, suddenly very shy and mumbled something.

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?" Lyude asked.

She mumbled again.

"What?" Gibari asked hesitatingly. He was not quite sure he wanted to know.

"I use Meemai as a pillow!" she shouted. "He's just so squishy, and it's so much better than sleeping on a real pillow."

Everyone let out the breath that they were holding and slouched their heads and shoulders down in defeat.

Believing that she had won, Xelha turned and walked away with her head in the air.

"I told you I'm not that innocent."


End file.
